- Title: ISRAEL: Unemployed Palestinians camp out in Israeli Beersheba awaiting work
- Date: 31st August 2007
- Summary: CLOSE OF BAG OF BREAD HANGING IN JUNKYARD BLANKETS AND ROLLED UP MATTRESSES IN CAR WHERE WORKERS SLEEP MORE OF JUNKYARD
- Embargoed: 15th September 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Employment,Social Services / Welfare
- Reuters ID: LVA9B6O3ZKA99MR9HA5QNRZA4CBC
- Story Text: Some 40 Palestinians who have entered Israel illegally camp out nightly in the junkyard in Beersheba hoping to find work in construction. Of around 100,000 Palestinian workers who enter Israel every day, more than half enter illegally, and are paid less than workers who have entered legally.
Palestinian forty-year-old Abdul Aziz Atiyyah steals through heaps of broken down cars and piles of metal and rubbish to get to his bed -- a mattress and blanket in an old car in a junkyard on the outskirts of the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
The junkyard is home to about 40 Palestinian labourers from the West Bank, who do not have Israeli-issued work permits and who have entered Israel illegally. It's where they sleep at night, hoping to evade the watchfull eyes of Israeli authorities until the morning when they venture into town looking for work.
"I do not have a permit (to enter Israel) so I can't go back (home to the West Bank)," Atiyyah told Reuters television.
"And also, If I wanted to travel by public transportation, it would cost me 200 shekels (around 50 U.S. dollars) every day. If I had a permit (to enter Israel), the transportation costs would be about 50 shekels (about 12.5 dollars). We who do not have permits have to pay 200 shekels. I earn 150 shekels (about 37.5 dollars) a day, so where am I supposed to get the money from to travel?" he added.
Entering Israel illegally through roundabout means involved lengthy taxi rides by sideroads and around Israeli military checkpoints. The trip is much more costly than the straight-forward journey the few lucky Palestinian labourers who have Isreali-issued permits make.
Since the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000, Palestinians have faced increasing levels of poverty due to Israeli blockades and severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of the Palestinian territories. About a third of the West Bank work force is unemployed.
Of the some 100,000 Palestinian workers who enter Israel every day, more than half enter illegally, and are paid less than workers who have entered legally.
The illegal workers look for shelter anywhere they can -- in disused buildings, alleyways and orchards.
"I feel when I sleep here that I am like an animal, we are the same as animals. I am similar to the dogs living over there. There is no differences between us and the dogs," Atiyyah said.
Many of the labourers at the junk yard refused to filmed, worried it might lead to their capture by Israeli border police officers.
"Sometimes the police arrest us and they take us to the terminal.
We go home. If we do not find an alternative we come back," said Atiyyah.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem reports that "Palestinian workers entering Israel often fall victim to exploitation by their employers and to abusive and cruel treatment by Israeli police officers and soldiers."
Their meals consist of the cheapest products in order to save money for their families in the West bank. They eat bread, cheese and hummous, a paste made of pureed chickpeas.
Each West Bank Palestinian labourer is estimated to support an average of seven people.
Their job prospects are dwindling, not only because of Israeli restrictions, but also because many of the jobs they used to do in Israel are now being filled by foreign workers from Thailand, Romania, the Philippines, India, China and other countries.
About 50,000 Palestinians have permits to enter Israel for work, down from 120,000 before the year 2000. The illegal Palestinian workers in Israel are almost exclusivley from the West Bank, as Israel has almost completely sealed Gaza off.
Atiyyah is father to five children, whom he visits twice a month.
Atiyyah could not find a job in his hometown Samoa' near Hebron, so he decided to try his chances as an illegal worker in Israel.
Many Palestinians labourers without work permits try to enter Israel everyday, but many of them get caught, Atiyyah said.
"If I were to find work in the West Bank that pays 2,000 shekels (about 500 U.S. dollars) I wouldn't come and work here. I wouldn't come here, 2,000 shekels would be enough for me," Atiyyah said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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